As Pharmacists Enter More Clinical Roles, So Do Pharmacy Technicians | ASHP Midyear 2025

The pharmacy profession has been moving beyond traditional dispensing roles and embracing more clinical roles. This evolution is driven by the recognized need for pharmacists to dedicate their expertise to complex patient care and to practice at the top of their license.

As this transition takes place, it calls for the utilization of highly trained and skilled pharmacy technicians in specialized roles. For pharmacy leaders, the core challenge has been addressing the shortage of experienced technicians and creating an adequate career structure to support their growth and development into niche clinical positions.

William M. Hammonds, PharmD, MS, BCPS, a clinical pharmacy manager at West Virginia University Medicine, and Carrington Huneycutt, PharmD, BCACP, director of clinical pharmacy at Tandem Health in South Carolina, discussed their clinical pharmacy technician programs at their respective institutions. They successfully navigated this shift and are now seeing substantial returns on investment (ROI), including sustained reductions in high turnover rates, significant financial gains, and demonstrable improvements in patient outcomes.

“We do have a need for highly trained, highly skilled technicians to fill these very niche clinical roles, but also an adequate structure in place to support that growth and development,” Hammonds said.

Implementing Advanced Roles in Inpatient Setting

Historically, pharmacy technician roles often followed a barebones model, such as tech I, tech II, and supervisor, which often offered limited opportunities for clinical advancement beyond just a leadership position. This stagnant structure contributed to significant workforce issues, such as the 42.3% turnover rate observed at WVU Medicine in 2018, far exceeding the national average at 13%, Hammonds said.

To counter this, WVU Medicine implemented a robust technician career ladder designed to support growth from foundational operations roles all the way to specialized clinical positions. This structural change allowed technicians to increase their autonomy and expertise in specialized care. Although implementing this ladder required an 11.62% hourly rate increase, amounting to about a $3369 annual increase, the overall cost was justified by creating brand new clinical positions focused on high-value activities, Hammonds said.

The key justification was capitalizing on the medication history technician roles to increase prescription capture at the discharge pharmacy, leveraging the institution's status as a 340B covered entity. By calculating the prescription capture needed to offset the increased technician costs, the institution demonstrated the financial viability of the initiative. Furthermore, after the ladder's implementation, monthly turnover rates dropped by approximately 20% and have been sustained, indicating that technicians are more engaged and are staying longer.

At WVU, there are different advanced technician roles, including medication history technicians and antithrombotic stewardship technicians.

Medication History Technicians

These technicians are essential in streamlining the transition of care process from the moment a patient is admitted.

“A key component here is that discharge pharmacy piece,” Hammonds said. “While we're looking at the patient on admission, they are setting the patient up for discharge right from the start."

At WVU Medicine, medication history technicians proactively change the preferred pharmacy in the medical record to the discharge pharmacy, a patient service that also provides a financial benefit. Data confirmed this strategy was effective, and patients who received a medication history were 75% more likely to utilize the institution's discharge pharmacy.

Because efficiency improvements, such as the implementation of specialized software, have allowed medication history technicians to cover close to 100% of admissions, some personnel can now be redeployed to support ambulatory clinical pharmacists. For instance, 1 pediatric medication history technician was redeployed to assist with complex tasks such as coordinating pediatric infusions, monitoring prior authorization processes, and managing patient assistance applications.

Antithrombotic Stewardship Technicians

Another high-impact clinical role is the antithrombotic stewardship technician, focusing on identifying high-risk patients newly started on anticoagulation upon admission. They play a crucial role in transitions of care, completing nearly 500 discharge anticoagulation reviews annually at WVU.

Key interventions performed by this technician include coordinating starter packs, handing out printed education information, and proactively prompting the rounding team about identified issues before discharge. Recognizing a gap in financial support, this role also expanded to initiate manufacturer patient assistance applications for high-risk patients. By taking on the responsibility of initiating applications and gathering necessary signatures and documentation, the technician established a dedicated system for patient assistance that previously lacked structure. The technician writes a comprehensive note documenting patient affordability, prior authorization status, and other key details, which is then used by the follow-up nurse post-discharge, showcasing close collaboration between the technician and other members of the care team.

“What we also realized after implementing [this] was that we really didn't have someone whose responsibility it was to help patients with manufacturer patient assistance upon discharge,” Hammonds said. “Now, this individual is accepting patient assistance consults."

Rural, Outpatient Advanced Technician Roles

The model of deploying specialized technicians for clinical support has proven equally effective in the outpatient setting, particularly in rural and underserved areas. At Tandem Health, a federally qualified health center, the medication information technician (MI-Tech) program was established with the initial, tangible goal of increasing the utilization of in-house pharmacies, which stood at 42%, Huneycutt said. MI-Techs are face-to-face patient advocates housed in the clinic lobbies, acting as the middleman between the clinics and the pharmacies. They ensure medication compliance and reduce patient barriers related to transportation or cost. Crucially, they significantly reduce the burden on physicians and clinical pharmacists by tackling critical administrative and clinical tasks.

MI-Techs completed over 1500 prior authorizations and coordinated refill requests, taking a significant load off physicians and medical assistants who were struggling to complete these tasks in a timely manner. Furthermore, Huneycutt added that MI-Techs coordinated medications for compliance packaging, which a pharmacist then checks. This program alone generated over $30,000 in monthly revenue and led to a 75% reduction in hospitalizations for patients enrolled in the packaging program.

The results demonstrated clear organizational success, with the utilization of in-house pharmacies surpassing 50%.

“In 2024, we were able to reach 5 stars with our largest Medicare payer across all medication adherence measures, showing the impact that technicians have made there,” Huneycutt said. “That was never done in our organization's history."

This dedication to specialized roles also fostered job satisfaction, with 100% of MI-Techs reporting that they were satisfied or very satisfied in their current position, contrasting sharply with traditional dispensing roles.

Huneycutt stated that the success of these programs underscores a directive for pharmacists and pharmacy leadership asking what tasks they are doing that a pharmacy technician can do. By offloading high-volume, time-consuming tasks like medication history, refill coordination, patient assistance applications, and prior authorizations, technicians streamline the workflow and ensure better communication between clinics and pharmacies.

This enables the pharmacist to fully dedicate their specialized education to higher-level clinical decision-making, patient consultation, medication therapy management tips, and complex patient education. The testimony of providers confirms the streamlined workflow provided by MI-Techs, highlighting their support for medication refills and prior authorizations.

"I recommend asking leadership physicians and pharmacy staff of their shortcomings,” Huneycutt said. “Our physicians were struggling with those prior authorizations in a timely manner. We were absolutely able to implement that.”

REFERENCES

Hammonds W, Huneycutt C. Bridging Gaps in Care: The Growing Role of Clinical Pharmacy Technicians. ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition 2025. December 7-10, 2025. Las Vegas, Nevada.